Top Drawer
FENDER AMERICAN ULTRA STRATOCASTER & TELECASTER BOTH £1,859
You don’t want to stand still at Fender for too long or you might get refreshed or renamed. That’s what has happened to the relatively new American Elite series. This range replaced the American Deluxe series back in 2016, and has now had a name change, plus some altered features with it, although it remains the most modern series – or “advanced”, as Fender prefers to call it – in Fender’s production ranges, as with the previous Elite and Deluxe.
“There are three main strands to the product categories: vintage-inspired, contemporary and advanced,” explains Fender’s senior product manager, Matt Davey. “The vintage-inspired is obviously Vintera and American Original; contemporary is Player, American Performer and American Professional; and then advanced is the Mexican-made Deluxe series and now the American Ultra – the pinnacle.”
The outgoing Elite series consisted of five models: a Strat in SSS and HSS pickup configurations, a Tele and Tele Thinline, plus a lefty Strat. All were priced at £1,799, the Thinline Tele at £1,819. The new Ultra series swaps the Tele Thinline for a Jazzmaster and, at launch, there’s no sign of a left-handed model. As ever, each model comes in a wide range of new and more classic colours, and the maple or
